DeeSpencer

If I was the MRC I’d want one of 3 things with the in field: 1. Leave it as a tip. If somehow the Caulfield Trust can clear their debts and keep meeting their statutory outcomes with the in field in useless condition the lack of gentrification keeps the Race clubs rents low and life nice and simple. 2. Level it and make it open for mass parking on race days again so they can charge $20 a car and make a nice profit on the big days. 3. Refurbish it to a festival, events, concert space so they can host music events run by the MRC like Flemington do. Whilst there’s some public indemnity and secure costs involved that’s nothing new for race clubs and they can provide catering, facilities etc and drastically up their event days. The northern non ovals section is intended for just that but they’d want the whole thing. The real question is WWEMD? What would Eddie McGuire Do? And the answer is he’d pack the Trust and then engineer the result he wants. Hopefully the MFC have done that.

My team if we had to pick a side to play right now: FB: McDonald May McVee HB: Windsor Petty Bowey C; Landgon Tracc Langford HF: Tholstrup JVR Laurie FF: Fritsch Disco Chandler Foll: Gawn Rivers Viney Int: Salem, Oliver, Sharp, Johnson S: Sparrow Susp: Pickett Inj: Lever, Spargo, Lindsay, McAdam In contention: Howes, Hore, AMW, Kynan Brown, Woewodin, Billings, Jefferson, Melksham Petty probably goes forward if Lever is back. And I highly suspect if just one of AMW or Howes can demand the back pocket job that Windsor goes back to the wing. Half forward is a weakness especially if Pickett is out. Need McAdam and Spargo in full training fighting for a spot. Don't feel great about Langford on a wing or Sharp in the best 22 yet. But I just have a hunch Langford will do well swapping between wing and forward and then we need someone to do some forward/wing coverage. Might be Sharp or Billings first up, hopefully Lindsay can push for a spot quickly, even if it's at half back and Windsor moves to the wing again.

I agree, but an old tip in Dingley is the best the Hawks could afford, we won’t be able to afford to outright own anything within metro Melbourne yet alone the heartland. I’m also not sure how many clubs actually own the land their facilities are built on. My concern is less about owning and more about monetising our facility. Richmond are up to about 120million in revenue with 50million or so from their health and fitness projects. They are protected as their football revenue surely drops away over the next few years. If we sink every dollar the club has in to a new facility we should make sure it at least generates some money to pay for itself outside of football revenue. Not sure that’s the case.

Error 1. MRC don’t control the land, Caulfield trust do. We seemingly have a strong relationship with Caulfield trust. Error 2. Scopus bought land we were never intending to buy. Our wedge of land isn’t impacted by this sale in any large way. The main complication here is more competiton to be the developer/controller/anchor tenant of the planned ovals. That comes down to relationships with the Caulfield trust, the local council (who will likely assume responsibility for community access/use) and any local sporting clubs including the large and influential Ajax footy club. Im generally a pessimist and expect the competition for the ovals to be incredibly fierce with Scopus next door. But it was never going to be easy and no one ever expected it was.

What might happen? The only thing that has happened is land MRC had for sale has been sold to a school not property developers. The competition for access to develop and use ovals is and will always be red hot. Perhaps it just got even hotter. Perhaps we just found a mutual beneficiary who will strengthen our case.

I'd like to see a race. Chandler might be coming through like Gout Gout. Even more impressive given the wind resistance his chin must cause.

Where's the heartland for a school with campuses in Brighton, Keysborough, Berwick, West Melbourne, Darwin and Tianjin!

Its not their land. It's the Caulfield Trusts land and the Caulfield Trust is broke because the racing club leases what they actually genuinely use (track and grand stand area) at a very discount rate. Having redeveloped their track and booted out all the horse trainers there's no incentive for the racing club to make a genuine offer to pay to use the infield area or precinct 5 (south east former stables earmarked for indoor sports) or 6 (vacant wedge proposed for MFC use). By far the best use of an open unused space that can't be developed with any height is for sporting ovals/general recreation on non race days.

The Scopus plan was to take over a chunk of the site as a hospital redevelopment shrunk the footprint of medical services. I'd imagine it was based around pretty much taking up what is currently the car parking areas once a new hospital with underground or high rise parking is constructed. To fit and oval in that area as well as a club facility you'd have to relocate and condense a lot of the hospital facilities, probably more than the school plans and that would be prohibitively expensive. Maybe 100-150 million or more worth of land costs alone. It's a better location than the race course for the Jewish community so I'd expect they'd have done it if it were feasible, especially if Deakin would take over their Burwood campus. The least feasible part of the process is getting 500-1Bill to redevelop the hospital with the states current finances. Buying 150 million worth of land for a footy facility doesn't really inspire the government to rebuild a community health/rehab hospital.

I think burst is more important for a footballer given the lack of space and Kade did a 3.06 20m in his draft year. I'm not entirely convinced by a one off GPS number, especially at the SCG in opening round, but if he truly does have that elite top end speed I hope we see it more often. I can't remember a time when Chandler was in a foot race and completely burnt his opponent, where as Windsor and Pickett it comes through in their games.

For every other pro sports team I agree, it’s disgraceful how they’ve taken over prime inner city green space (and funding) for their own interest. But when it’s the Dees I’m willing to let it slide!

The only area where there’s any room to expand width (can’t build an oval on a road or race track) is the proposed Dees wedge. So maybe they can do a land swap with the Crown. Their current campus has one skinny oval though. So maybe they don’t need full sized ovals. Not a lot of Jewish interschool sports as far as I know! They aren’t churning out footballers like the APS schools (aside from Harry Sheezel)

I really like Chandler as a rock solid role player and probably our best young leader. To me he just lacks that burst or high end speed to really zoom away from defenders, he can be a little fumbly and he's just not a really quick creative ball user. He impressed me with stints on the wing at the end of the year and I wish they'd just let him have a few centre bounce attendances, his tackling should hold him in good stint and he'd give a difference mix than usual

Find me 120m width anywhere on that site, best I can do is 105m and that's right up against the track. You can measure distance on google maps. There's obviously enough space for some grass fields for the kids to do PE and run around at lunch and recess but in terms of a genuine sized footy oval she's very tight.

You can find it here. https://www.crrt.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CRRT-Strategic-Management-Plan-December-2023.pdf That area is called Precinct 5. The plans are pretty clearly for an Indoor sports facility and with the rise of basketball, soccer and other indoor sports I'd imagine that's just about a lock once someone finds the cash to get it done. Precinct 5 - Indoor Recreation Precinct (Neerim Stables) This precinct is based at the former “Neerim Stables” site at the southern end of the Reserve, adjoining Glenhuntly Park. This precinct has unrestricted access and can operate independently of events within the Reserve, including racing, and therefore provides a unique opportunity to provide recreation facilities for regular and consistent use. The existing Land Management Plan proposals for this area remain unchanged and will continue to be developed. However, due to the unique nature of this Precinct outside of the racing impacts, and the removal of the proposed “Neerim Road Tunnel” due to cost/benefit reasons, a strong focus is to house facilities unrelated to the racecourse area and in-field operations. Precinct 6 is the Proposed site for the Demons and is in many ways chosen because it's a tricky site that can't be used for much as is. Precinct 6 - Recreation Support Precinct This precinct is located outside the racetrack area on a triangular shaped site that was previously used for horse training. This precinct is “wedged” between the racetrack and private land on Booran Road, with limited access and constrained interfaces. While not directly impacted by racing, the activities and access to this precinct will be impacted by people and traffic movements. This precinct also abuts existing and future built form areas, including the three storey Glen Eira College and a number of sites subject to future planning applications. This existing and future built form is likely to create overshadowing, constrain access and make it unsuitable for open space community infrastructure. To support the heritage goals, particularly the aim to keep The Flat infield of the racecourse open, along with the existing built form on site and adjacent sites, this precinct is proposed to house support buildings for the operations and management of the Reserve. This will include Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust, recreation and sport organisations using the Reserve, and other related bodies who require administration and support facilities relating to the activities in the Reserve.

Their land isn't wide enough for ovals. Maybe a soccer pitch or a basketball gym. But I suspect they'll have their eyes on the ovals for community sporting access which is what I've heard since January. I don't think our admin building would be an issue. In fact, now we know who the Caulfield land is selling to we might even be able to buy or rent a small chunk of it to get easily access for construction as well as come up with mutually beneficial design plans. I actually thought it would all go to housing and we'd have to deal with dodgy developers for neighbours chucking up the cheapest possible apartments. The Scopus blue and the Dees slither of brown don't overlap (although there's perhaps a little question of access from the road in). But I suspect the fight will truly be on for the ovals - as it has always likely been. Dees will say let us control them and stump up some initial finance in return for exclusive use during AFL/W training times and perhaps only the bare minimum community footy use - maybe no trainings and 2 games a weekend. Scopus will say let us be involved in the development and have Ajax training their 4 nights a week and half a dozen games each weekend. There's room for compromise but we can't be spending a fortune on a training base only to have ovals torn up by 1000's of kids every weekend.

Do you mean wedge as in the narrow piece of Government trust last - because that isn’t being sold. Or do you mean wedge as in leverage to development the ovals? Because I do imagine there’s going to be fierce competition to use them as exclusively as an afl club would like to.

Cranbourne golf club sold for 190M to Fraser Brown of all people. Money put in to a fund for Jewish community interests. Mt Scopus have bought the old training stables land along Kambrook Road according to the Age. We’re going to have to share or fight for these ovals.

Time trial result was excellent but otherwise I’m not sure where the positive reports are coming from. Pulled out of every training I’ve been to for rehab running. I’m glad he’s having a red hot crack and keen to see more but I need to actually see him doing some main drills before I see much reason for optimism.

That’s just because you haven’t seen much of him yet, he has all the same weaknesses of Chandler and without the overhead marking and burst power.

Postponing birthday celebrations for one night isn’t exactly a major test. The big test will be whether he gets a kick in round 2!

Some stuff about Tracc, notes the guys in the rehab group, and the following ‘players who impressed’ Harvey Langford - The No. 6 pick looks ready made for the level. Already a good size, Langford found himself in the right position on multiple occasions with space and execution to deliver inside 50. Kozzy Pickett - Pickett, who will miss the first three games in 2025 due to suspension, was playing through the middle during the full-ground drill. He put his speed to good use and also delivered a few pinpoint passes going inside 50. Tom Campbell - Now at his 3rd AFL club, the 201cm ruck seems set to be the backup ruck for Premiership captain Max Gawn alongside Will Verrall. The experienced Campbell was clean at ground level and showed some good acceleration during the full-ground drill, also showcasing impressive skills for a big man. Kynan Brown - The father-son product, who played two games in his debut season, was speedy and was brushing off tacklers with relative ease. Featured in some drills but ran laps for the majority of the session. Also looked to have put on some muscle.

Kolt, Kalani and the new boys jogging laps. Main group just doing end to end lane work with 2 vests v 3 cones at each end and a 2v1 defenders in the middle to link up. Really simple but fundamental running and decision making. Now with 2 footies so it’s getting all multi ball

He’s doing a lot of agility and very structured short running for a shoulder. Might be knee related shoulder surgery

Bowser and Salo the 2 man backline now. Moving fast with lots of diagonal stuff which is good to see. Not always connecting to the forwards - nice Kalani intercept and spoil there - but Riv, Viney, Koss have all run the ball through the middle